The International Labor Rights Forum, an research organization dedicated to documenting abuses of worker rights abroad and here in the United States, has published a report condemning UNFI for "serious violations of workers' rights" at the company's facilities in Moreno, CA and Auburn, WA.

According to the report, the company waged an aggressive anti-union campaign against its largely immigrant workforce at its facility in Moreno in early 2012. The report cites threats of violence during that campaign, including death threats, on the part of management directed at workers.

The report also discusses the mistreatment of workers at its Auburn facility, where the company introduced a "parallel workforce of non-union contract workers through a temporary agency, Roadlink, to whom it pays wages that are roughly half those the company pays to its unionized workers and to whom it provides no health insurance."

The report draws the following conclusion regarding UNFI's treatment of its workers:

"The conduct described in this report would be troubling were it carried out by any employer. It is all the more so because UNFI has represented itself to the public as a company that operates according to principles of social responsibility...In short, the findings of this investigation suggest that a wholesale shift in UNFI’s labor policy is necessary for the company to comply with international norms for the acceptable treatment of workers."